Field Museum exhibit highlights 'punk rock paleontologist,' seeks to inspire women, people of color
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Field Museum of Natural History is broadening the scope of its new exhibition to look not just at scientific discoveries, but the diverse group of scientists who study them.
Highlighted in the exhibit is tattooed "punk rock paleontologist" Jingmai O'Connor, who spoke with CBS 2 Streaming Anchor Brad Edwards Wednesday.
"I never really even thought about the fact that I was breaking roles, you know, breaking stereotypes – or any of that. I've always just been me," said O'Connor, curator of fossil reptiles at the Field Museum, "and what I now have realized that it's important to people to see scientists looking differently; to recognize that people like them can also be scientists. So being a role model is not something that I ever sought out, but I recognize that it's really important – and I'm going to do my best to be a good role model for anyone who relates to somebody like me, or just wants to see a scientist that's not just the typical white man in a lab coat that we think of when we picture paleontologists."
The exhibit, "The Changing Face of Science," highlights the work of women and people of color working as scientists – with hopes to inspire the next generation. O'Connor is the curator of the exhibit.
The exhibition shares O'Connor's path to science, and also highlights her passions outside paleontology – such as music and sustainability.
It features pieces from O'Connor's childhood sketchbooks and replica antiques from Chinese markets – as well as fossils related to her research. One such fossil is a cast of prehistoric bird Qiliania graffini signed by Greg Graffin, an evolutionary biologist and lead singer in Bad Religion for whom O'Connor named the species, the Field Museum said.
O'Connor explained how her other interests contribute to her scientific work. She said she addresses sustainability anytime the Field Museum gives her a "soapbox."
"One thing that's always bothered me is that even though other scientists should be aware of all the issues and the consequences of our actions, and, you know, the costs of all human consumption, but they really don't seem to reflect that in their behavior. I constantly see other scientists using throwaway water bottles, and driving their cars with the air conditioning on and the windows open. And these things – they really frustrate me," O'Connor said. "But what can you do other than try to educate people and try to be a good example?"
O'Connor spoke with Edwards remotely while wearing a T-shirt with a T. Rex on it – the dinosaur, not the classic glam rock band fronted by Marc Bolan. But the T. Rex is not O'Connor's favorite dinosaur.
That distinction goes to "a little scansoriopterygid called Yi qi."
"It means strange wing in Chinese, and it was described in 2015 in the journal Nature," O'Connor said, "and the reason I love this dinosaur is because… basically imagine a flying squirrel, but it's a dinosaur, and the discovery of this little flying squirrel dinosaur completely changed everything we thought we knew about flight and dinosaurs."
The exhibit opens on Friday.